In particular, with the help of FAS, they succeeded in liberalization of participation of private universities in the competition for state support of innovative universities in the framework of national project “Education”.
6. Is competition law applicable on the competition for students?
No, it is not. The RF Law “On Competition Protection” applies to relationships that concern the protection of competition, including the prevention and suppression of monopolistic activity and unfair competition, if Russia’s legal entities and foreign legal entities, federal bodies of executive power, bodies of state power of Subjects of Russian Federation, local authorities, other bodies exercising functions of those agencies or organizations, as well as state budget funds, the Central Bank of Russia, individuals, including individual entrepreneurs are involved in such relationships. However, individuals are subjected to this law, only when they do activities as business entities, to which students do not belong.
Competition of university entrants is regulated by the Order of the Ministry of Education and Science that approves the procedure of admission to the HEIs and a number of federal laws that establish privileges for certain categories of citizens.
7. Are state funded HEIs selling courses at market prices which are also provided by commercial educational institutions operating on the market?
The average cost of education at the state universities is higher than in private ones. Brands of state universities were created, as a rule, in Soviet times, and, in recent years, administrations of the universities actively used these brands, regularly raising tuition fees. Private universities, as a rule, do not possess such resource as a recognizable brand name.
8. Has there been case law on the extent of the activity of public interest of HEIs?
In Russian legal system, social relations are not regulated by case law. Therefore sources of legal support of non-profit activities of educational institutions are not precedents, but the Constitution of Russian Federation (Article 43 and 44), Federal Laws “On education” and “On Higher and Postgraduate Professional Education”, Presidential Decrees that are settled to solving urgent problems of the system (“On urgent measures of state support for undergraduate and graduate students of higher educational institutions”, “On some measures to strengthen public support for science and higher education institutions”, “On some measures to strengthen state support of young scientists – the candidates of science, and their supervisors”, etc.), the RF Government Decrees (which approve such major acts as State educational standards for higher and professional education, Regulations on the licensing of educational activity, “Standard regulations on educational institution of higher professional education (on HEI) of Russian Federation”), Programs, Concepts and other documents of a conceptual nature (the priority national project “Education”, the Concept of modernization of Russian education until 2010, the Concept of State Youth Policy, etc.), departmental acts issued by the Ministry of Education and Science (“The procedure for admission to universities” and others), acts of Subjects of the Federation (the rules relating to higher education in the Law “On education” of the Republic of Adygea, Karelia, Tatarstan, Chuvashia, Stavropol region, Kurgan, Novgorod and Sverdlovsk regions, although the higher professional education in accordance with Article 24 of Federal Law “On Higher and Postgraduate Professional Education” is related to the jurisdiction of the Federation, not of its subjects), administrative agreements (between the Federation and its Subjects, between the federal executive authority and the education authorities of the Subjects of the Federation, between founder and university), acts of nongovernmental agencies of educational governing (All-Russia Union of Rectors, regional councils of rectors of universities, associations of universities, etc.), local acts taken by universities within the limits of their competences (statutes, regulations, orders of rectors, decisions of Academic Councils, etc.).